Dangerous levels of chemicals found in clothes from China
Trading Standards officials are to carry out tests on clothes made in China
after garments sold in New Zealand were found to contain dangerous levels of
formaldehyde. Tests conducted for Target, a consumer TV show, found
concentrations of the chemical up to 900 times above the safety limit on
children’s and adults’ clothes.
Bryan Lewin, chairman of the Trading Standards Institute, said: “We would
expect trading standards departments here to carry out tests to establish
formaldehyde levels.”
The alert comes a week after Mattel recalled millions of Chinese-made toys.
Brown takes Merkel to football rather than talk of treaty
Gordon Brown will be taking Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to Wembley
Stadium tomorrow, amid pressure on him to call a referendum on the European
Union treaty (Philip Webster and David Charter write). But the talk will be
of football rather than the treaty, officials suggested, as the two leaders
watch the “friendly” between England and Germany.
The Prime Minister will hold talks with Mrs Merkel at No 10 tomorrow evening
before heading to the match. Their agenda will include international
development and the global economy. It is unclear if the treaty will be
discussed.
Man disabled by leap
A 25-year-old man has been disabled in a “tombstoning” accident. Police said
that Darren Fletcher, of Sheffield, would not walk again. He jumped into the
sea from a high point in the Isles of Scilly. “Tombstoning” causes about 15
deaths and 200 injuries in Britain each year.
Footballer, 16, dies
A teenage footballer for Walsall FC has died during a training session. Anton
Reid, 16, who played for the League One side’s youth team, collapsed at
their training ground yesterday morning. As a mark of respect, tonight’s
reserve team match against Wolverhampton Wanderers has been postponed.
Tube strike threat
Tube workers have voted 1,369-70 for strike action in a dispute that could
cripple the London Underground. The staff work for Metronet, the Tube
maintenance company that went into administration last month. Unions will
meet administrators tomorrow. If no progress is made, the unions will set
strike dates on Thursday.
Suffering for his art
A television artist was told by a parking warden that he could not paint on
the waterfront at Seahouses, Northumberland, unless he bought a £4 ticket
for his easels. Charles Evans, 54, of Acklington, had put them in a spare
car parking space. His landscape art programmes are aired on the Discovery
channel.
Well-oiled travel deal
Ken Livingstone’s controversial oil deal will give up to a million Londoners
half-price bus and tram travel. Those claiming income support will benefit
from the Mayor’s scheme, in which a single bus journey will cost 50p, after
an agreement with President Chávez of Venezuela for cheap oil.
Swastika leaflet case
A campaigner against closed-circuit television who refused to pay an £80 fine
for distributing a leaflet depicting a swastika will not be prosecuted.
Keith Sharp, 68, of Dawlish, Devon, asked for the matter to be dealt with in
court. But the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not be in the public
interest.
Money is ‘wasted’ on vocational degrees
A class war broke out in the university world yesterday after a report derided
the new generation of vocational degrees, such as golf and equine dentistry,
as “non-courses” (Alexandra Frean writes).
The TaxPayers’ Alliance, a group campaigning for lower taxes, claimed that the
401 such “noncourses” in the country cost the public £40 million a year. The
group said that the training offered by these “Mickey Mouse” courses would
be better learnt on the job.
Universities UK, representing vice-chancellors, said that the courses were
based on demand from employers, and accused the group of “academic
snobbery”.
Among the degrees on the group’s list is Outdoor Adventure with Philosophy,
taught at a college in Plymouth.
Clinic under fire
A cancer clinic in Glasgow is at the centre of a mistreatment row only weeks
before the publication of a report examining its role in the death of a
teenage girl who received a massive overdose of radiation (Charlotte Sweeney
writes).
Ishbel McChlery, 72, from Clarkston in Glasgow, claims that she was left with
severe burns after taking chemotherapy tablets given by the Beatson Oncology
Centre.
Last year the same unit was found to have mistakenly given excessive doses of
radiation to Lisa Norris, 16, from Ayrshire. She died last October, when the
cancer spread throughout her body. Health chiefs have denied the clinic made
another error.
‘Old drugs’ revamped
Old drugs are to be “redesigned” for use as emergency treatments to tackle and
contain virulent diseases, hospital superbugs or in the event of a
bioterrorism attack (Lewis Smith writes).
Scientists are developing a computer system designed to pinpoint previously
developed drugs with the potential to beat new diseases.
Antiinflammatory and cholesterol-lowering treatments are among those that
could be restructured to give researchers breathing space to develop
specifically targeted medicines.
“There might be no time to develop a completely new drug,” said Artem
Cherkasov, of the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Training questioned
Junior doctors trained under a new system may be less confident and competent
at routine hospital procedures, a small survey in Sheffield suggests (Nigel
Hawkes writes).
Doctors were questioned in 2005 and last year about their experience of six
common procedures carried out in emergency departments, such as suturing
wounds, manipulating dislocated shoulders and draining abscesses. A year
later the class of 2005 were more experienced in all six procedures than
their successors last year.
More work is needed to see if the problem is common to other A&E
departments, say Susan Croft and Suzanne Mason in the journal Emergency
Medicine.
Fake vet jailed over illegal animal drugs
A dog breeder alleged to have made more than £170,000 by selling unlicensed
animal drugs has been jailed for a year.
Leonard French, 69, posed as a veterinary surgeon for three years, selling
antibiotics and vaccines not approved for use in the UK. He was jailed for
12 months at Lincoln Crown Court after admitting 20 charges, including
selling unlicensed drugs to the public and acting as a vet despite not being
registered.
French, of Tattershall Bridge, Lincolnshire, will face a confiscation hearing
in October when government officials will try to seize the money they say he
made.
DNA of ‘killer’ found
Detectives believe they may have found the DNA profile of a person who killed
two women 20 years ago - after finding a shoeprint on the blouse of one
victim. The bodies of Caroline Pierce, 20, and Wendy Knell, 26, both from
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were found six months apart in 1987. Postmortem
examinations showed that they had been battered and strangled but the cases
were never solved.
Doherty arrested
Pete Doherty was arrested for suspected drug possession after performing with
his band Babyshambles at the V Festival in Staffordshire, where he
reportedly finished his set by demolishing a drum kit. Doherty, 28, was held
at a police station in East London after the car he was in was stopped. He
is due to be sentenced next month for previous drug offences.
Cadet plunge inquiry
Military police are keeping an open mind about whether a female officer cadet
who plunged from a third-floor window at the Royal Military Academy in
Sandhurst was pushed or fell accidentally. Officers interviewed Amii Calway,
22, in hospital on Friday. A 25-year-old fellow officer cadet is on police
bail. A spokesman for the MoD police said: “We are assessing the information
she has provided.”
Royal Pavilion thefts
A review of security has been ordered at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton after
two raids at the historic palace this summer. In the first raid, a 12in
(30cm) 1807 silver serving dish worth up to £10,000 went missing between
June 1 and 3. Two Art Nouveau jewelled hair clips and a gold pendant were
taken from a locked drawer during the opening weekend this month in broad
daylight.
Darfur’s Muslim Live 8
A Muslim version of Live 8 is to be staged to highlight the humanitarian
crisis in Darfur. The event, organised by British-based Muslims as part of
the Eid celebrations at the end of Ramadan, will be staged at Wembley
Stadium on October 21. Jehangir Malik, the UK national fundraising manager
of Islamic Relief, said: “We should hopefully see a sell-out and it will be
a milestone.”
